Three More Junior Doctors Strikes Have Been Announced

The British Medical Association will also seek a judicial review of the decision to impose the new junior doctors contract, which it said would "seriously affect" the NHS’s ability to recruit and train new doctors.

Junior doctors will stage three 48-hour strikes in the coming two months, the British Medical Association (BMA) has announced.

During the three strikes, planned from 8am on 9 March, 6 April, and 26 April, junior doctors will only provide emergency care, the BMA said in a statement.

“Imposing this contract will seriously undermine the ability of the NHS to recruit and retain junior doctors in areas of medicine with the most unsocial hours, where there are already staffing shortages,” the BMA said.

Hunt earlier this month announced that a new junior doctors contract would be imposed across the NHS starting 1 August.

Prior to the decision, a poll showed 90% of 1,000 junior doctors surveyed said they would resign if it went ahead.

The BMA also announced it would launch a judicial review examining the government’s decision to impose a new contract apparently without conducting an equality impact assessment of the impact on junior doctors.

Dr Johann Malawana, BMA junior doctor committee chair, said: “This is yet another example of the incompetence which the government has demonstrated throughout its handling of this dispute.”